How old is gill lewis

Was there anything in your earlier drafts that you ultimately thought was just too harsh to convey to young readers? When I did the first draft, the very first chapter was a village massacre. When I met Bandi Mbubi, I remember feeling terrified.

Ultimately, if you write completely about your own experience in your own life it leaves you with a very narrow margin. You have to do your research and talk to people as much as you can. And I think, ultimately, you need to tap into being human. One of the biggest things I wanted the story to tell was actually about globalization. We are all connected. Resources come from all over the world. What we use and what we do has an effect on someone, on some animal, on some habitat elsewhere.

Gorilla Dawn is told in three perspectives — Imara, year-old Bobo who joins the rebels while in search of his father, and the baby gorilla Kitwana. Why did you feel it was important to include those three points of view instead of a single or omniscient narrator? I think this is the first book that I have split up the narrator. Imara was very much someone who was enclosed in her own mind. I needed to show what Imara thought of him and what he thought of Imara.

And Kitwana is the gel in that whole thing because the book is told in past tense, until right at the end where we suddenly change to the present tense and first person as well. What happened was in the past. And I wanted then to bring it into the present day. That was purposeful. All of your books have some common themes about animals and how humans fit in and negatively impact the natural world.

Especially for Gorilla Dawn and Moon Bear, both were initiated by reading an article in a magazine. You find out so many different things about history and geography and about people and cultures. Just constant questioning about the world. You never know where the story is going to come from. I try to read around lots of conservation issues and charities and [engage] in conversation with other people.

But this story is about what allows us to look beyond that, see what other people are thinking and feeling. Gorilla Dawn by Gill Lewis. The Millions. Sign up for our Children's Bookshelf newsletter! Children's Announcements.

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If you have an active subscription and need to set up or change your password, please click here. New to PW? Publication Date Last 12 months 3. Type Product or Series Filter by Age range 8 11 11 - 14 1. Format Book Current page Page 1 of 2 Page 2 of 2. Results per page 10 25 50 Quantity Add to basket. View basket. Quantity Add to basket Evaluate. Secondary Educators. Switch to International view UK view. Sky Hawk Two lives to save, one secret to keep. I liked the idea of being an explorer journeying into leech-infested jungles or crossing the high Arctic in a dog sledge in search of polar bears.

When I grew up, I did become a vet and my work took me from the wilds of Africa to the frozen lands of the Arctic…. I loved picture books, the way words and pictures interact to tell a story. I loved novels for older children, entering new worlds created by authors and following the adventures of their characters. I went back to university to study Writing for Young People where I learned how to craft my stories. Not long after finishing my first book, Sky Hawk , I was fortunate enough to find an agent and then a publisher.